


Ancient Light

by rebel_ren



Series: Drabbles Against Despair [24]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, First Meetings, Warlocks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:08:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24383317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_ren/pseuds/rebel_ren
Summary: Catarina had thought she knew the path her life was going to take, but then, she looked up and saw the woman across the plaza.
Relationships: Catarina Loss/Dorothea "Dot" Rollins
Series: Drabbles Against Despair [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666300
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	Ancient Light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SmudleyKAM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmudleyKAM/gifts).



> Title from the song of the same name by Allman Brown ([link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g0Xvz_INb8)).
> 
> I've been rewatching Criminal Minds, and an episode ended with a song that made me think about immortal beings going through life. And since my friend Kaye is Catarina Loss' number 1 fan... this is for you, love!

Catarina Loss had been on the move for as long as she could remember. Always on the road. One foot in front of the other, sometimes skipping and sometimes running and sometimes limping and sometimes trudging, but always, always moving. Sometimes, when she looked up at redwoods or the infinite sky, she still felt young as anything. But there were other times when she felt old as the hills, ageless and endless and alien.

Catarina was something of a rebel. She had never believed in fate, never allowed any outside force - destiny or otherwise - to dictate her actions or the path of her life. She knew herself to be a fiercely independent spirit, and she’d assumed that had meant she was going to go through the rest of her life alone. After all, there was no way in hell she’d ever give up her freedom to be tied to someone else.

She wasn’t really expecting that to change. But then, Catarina was in yet another city on yet another day, and she looked up across the plaza to see a woman.

The woman looked to be around Cat’s age, though Cat knew better than most that appearance and age often had little to do with one another. She was sitting at an outdoor cafe table, reading a book, her legs folded up on the chair under her. Her long hair tumbled in waves around her shoulders, and she was wearing an oversized sweater that was starting to slide down her sun-kissed arms. She was intent on her book, her forehead creased in a slight frown as her eyes moved eagerly over the page.

Cat stopped in her tracks. There was just something about her. She seemed to have a kind of glow about her. It had been many years since Cat had last met anyone with such a vibrant aura, alive and dancing with the blue-green shades of serenity and the deep fuschias and purples of joy.

Cat didn’t know what to do, and she certainly didn’t want to seem like a creep, but she found herself unable to take her eyes off the woman.

And then the woman looked up, glancing around for a moment like she was trying to find someone before turning towards Cat.

Their eyes locked, and in that moment, Cat knew in her bones that there was a deep connection between them. Or there had been. Or there would be. But the tense of it didn’t matter. Cat could tell that she and this woman were going to mean something to each other, something profound and potentially life-changing. Something that would stay with her.

The woman kept looking at her, steady and calm, and Cat approached the table.

“Hello,” Cat said, sinking into the opposite chair.

“Hello,” the woman said, her voice melodic and sweet.

“I’m Catarina Loss,” Cat said.

“Dorothea Rollins,” the woman said. “But you can call me Dot.”

That moment of meeting turned into a long, meandering conversation that went on for hours. They discovered points of commonality and difference, smiling and sharing and enjoying each other’s company. Though neither spoke of it, Cat could sense that they shared something else, something deep and fundamental and magical.

Cat couldn’t quite pinpoint the moment when the thought came to her, but it grew and grew as they talked until finally it surfaced in her consciousness.

_I’m not alone anymore._

In the years that followed, years of companionship and love and laughter, Cat was forever grateful for the moment when they’d locked eyes across a crowded plaza. The moment when something barely tangible - a thread of possibility, golden and shimmering - had drawn two people together who might never have met otherwise and, in doing so, had changed the course of both of their lives.


End file.
